Residents angry over late-night violence and drug dealing at popular student night

Residents around Trafalgar Street, Brighton, have described how they are suffering from sleepless nights due to people leaving late night venues near their homes.

They are blaming revellers leaving a student night on a Tuesday evening at the nearby Green Door Store, with the disruption starting soon after kick out time at the venue.

The issues were raised at a North Laine Community Association meeting with chairman Peter Crowhurst calling on the police to take action.

He said: “It is the result of a town that makes a lot of money from the late night economy and of politicians who put this trade before the interests of local residents who have their lives blighted by late night noise and anti-social behaviour.

“Late night noise is the responsibility of the police.”

The student night, called Donuts, is one of the most popular in the city and runs from 11pm to 3am. Residents said trouble starts after closing time.

Sophie Mckay, from the Green Door Store, told The Argus that they employ a sound engineer whose job is to walk to eight marked sound points in the surrounding area to take decibel measurements every half an hour from 11pm-4am.

She added: “According to the council, once someone has left the venue and is more than ten metres away, we are unable to influence their behaviour.

“As a licensed premises we have and feel a great responsibility to the local residents to make sure that what we do as a business has as little of an impact as possible on the surrounding area.”

One resident said he found an unconscious man on his doorstep.

Other residents told of people playing football and hitting their kitchen window at 5am and flowerpots being placed on car roofs.

There have also been reports of drug dealing, bottles being smashed and cars being damaged amid fighting.

One resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “People seem to be incapable of getting home from a pub or a club without stopping in big groups and whooping at each other, not realising that other people have to go to work the next day.

“If the police took a more proactive role and if they actually fined a few people and gave a few people tickets, then the message would get out there that screaming and shouting is going to cost you and then nobody would do it.”

Steve Foster, of Trafalgar Wines in Trafalgar Street, shuts up his shop at 9pm on a Tuesday.

He said: “Tuesday nights are horrendous. It’s unbelievable.

“It’s since the law changed with the 24-hour licensing which definitely ramped it up because people can come out of a nightclub at 2am and go straight to an off licence.”

Brighton and Hove has a city-wide designated public places order meaning police can remove alcohol from those drinking in the street.

However, most residents believe the problem lies in the lack of police officers present to move revellers on.

Police officers have attended community association meetings to try to resolve residents’ issues.

Inspector Gareth Davies said: “We have not been made aware that there is a particular issue with antisocial behaviour in the area on Tuesdays. However we encourage people to make contact with their local officer, or the relevant agency, if there are particular issues concerning them.

“Where issues are being raised we can look to address them working with the local authority and our partners. We take seriously any reports of assaults, drug dealing or criminality and urge people to contact us if this is being witnessed.”

Vomiting in bins, dealing in the streets – just a usual Tuesday night

Arriving on Tuesday at 10.30pm we found nothing but an empty street.

We began to wonder whether the whole thing was going to be a waste of time.

But then down an alleyway behind an off licence, we caught our first glimpse of what was to come with a young man emptying a bottle of vodka into a water bottle.

By midnight the street was beginning to fill with groups of revellers, laughing and swigging from cans, making their way towards the Green Door Store.

Barely hidden from the swelling queue, a girl squatted to go to the toilet in the street as people passed by.

We joined the queue as bouncers announced they were operating a one-in-one-out policy. The doors had only been open an hour and people were beginning to get agitated.

Before long a bottle was thrown from the back, shattering on the tarmac, inches from people’s feet.

When some people tried to cut the queue there were a series of stand-offs.

A crackle of nervous energy filled the air as violence seemed inevitable. And the domino effect of people being pushed in a queue brought tensions to boiling point.

Extra security personnel were brought in and the metal barriers cordoning off the queue were narrowed in order to manage the restless crowd.

Nearly an hour after first joining the queue, we made it through the doors.

We were welcomed by the steady thump of bass and the eager buzz of a packed club.

There was a heavy security presence and the few skirmishes that broke out were dealt with quickly.

After two hours on the humid dance floor, kick-out time was fast approaching. We decided to beat the crowd and take our place outside in Trafalgar Street, ready for whatever might happen.

Immediately outside, a man was slumped unconscious on a low wall, covered in vomit.

At 3am, streams of people began to descend on to the street, marching in the road, shoving each other and shouting at the top of their lungs. There was not a police officer in sight.

One group engaged in a striking rendition of “Country Road” while further down the street, a girl threw up into a bin – before taking a selfie.

Before leaving Trafalgar Street, feeling like we had seen enough, we heard a whisper from behind, “Hey boys, want any weed or sniff?”

Politely declining the offer, we made our way home.

By JAMES WOOLVEN & FINLAY RENWICK

What the residents say

Kamud Maj, 63, said: “It’s crazy now. I see it quite a lot. Drugs, drink, smokes, everything. Every corner has a pub around here, so obviously people are getting drunk.”

Holly Blackmer, 30, said. “A lot of the time people buy alcohol from the shops and sit outside, making noise. Sometimes you have to shout out the window to get them to move on.”

Victoria Handley, 37, with baby Johnny-Ray, said: “I wouldn’t complain about it. We moved here from London. Here it’s happy noise, not sirens and gang fights.”

Beth Wiltshire, 21, said: “Tuesdays are the worst. As students we go out quite a lot, so it’s not the worst thing in the world, but when you do have essays it’s annoying.

“People are kicking off in the newsagents all the time as it’s open late.”

Kevin Daly, 59, owner of Rainbow Books, said: “Tuesday nights are particularly bad. The noise wakes me up at 3am and that is a bit frustrating. Tuesday nights have definitely gotten worse.”